Friend-Raising: Successful Fundraising Techniques for Academic Health Sciences Libraries

Background: One of the Performance Indicators of the Leadership and Management professional competencies as identified by the Medical Library Association (MLA) is “Secures and manages external funding,” which includes implementing fundraising strategies. There is very little written about fundraising for health sciences libraries. One of the more recent publications that mentions fundraising as an important aspect of a director’s duties was written in 2000 titled, Administration and management in health sciences libraries, edited by Rick B. Forsman and Alison Bunting. We will begin to fill that gap with an assessment of fundraising activities in two different academic health sciences libraries.

Description: Two health sciences library directors new to fundraising executed a series of development activities including a friend-raising event, outreach to individuals with oral histories on file, directed donation campaigns, and holiday greetings to name a few. Both directors began with assistance from a university development specialist, however, staffing changes removed that expertise for some time for one of the directors. Monthly consultations between the two directors allowed for an exchange of ideas with encouragement and the implementation of similar activities when appropriate. Limitations on staff time, the directors’ time, and funding available to execute fundraising programs were noted along with strategies to overcome some of these challenges. Evaluations of each activity were simple, but these assessments quickly determined which activities yielded quick and satisfying results.

Conclusion: After each implemented fundraising measure, an assessment followed that included but was not limited to recording the number of participants in an event, the amount of planning effort required, the amount of money spent, the number of contacts made, the feedback received, and the amount of money raised. A list of fundraising activities that yielded the best results, the amount of effort required, along with lessons learned, will be presented.